The present invention relates to a system for guiding a patient in taking medicine by preparing a document based on prescription information from a doctor and other information about the medicine, and a medicine bag with such information printed thereon.
Generally, medicine for a particular patient is dispensed by a pharmacist based on a prescription prepared by a doctor, and handed to the patient in a medicine bag on which is information concerning dose and the directions for use. Two or more different drugs can be contained in the prescribed medicine and a medicine bag is prepared per each drug.
For instance, when a doctor prescribes to a patient that one each tablet X and tablet Y is to be taken after each meal, and one tablet Z is to be taken every 8 hours, these medicines are held in different medicine bags to avoid mistakes in taking the medicine, namely one bag for the tablets X and Y and the other bag for the tablet Z. The information on the bag accommodating the tablets X and Y is described as "Dose one tablet after each meal", and on the other bag accommodating the tablet Z, as "Dose one tablet every 8 hours", respectively.
However, when there are various drugs which are different in dose and directions for use thereof, a medicine bag must be prepared for each drug. The dose and directions for use must be described on each bag, thereby causing an increase in number of medicine bags produced.
Although it may be possible to accommodate all of the drugs in one medicine bag, it is usually hard for patients to correctly identify actual drugs from the name indicated on the medicine bag. Accordingly, this could cause mistakes in dose and/or use on taking the medicine even if the medicine bag has the information as to the relations between each drug's name and information of dose and use. For instance, when tablets X and Y are to be dosed every meals and tablet Z is to be dosed with a time interval of 8 hours and are accommodated in the same bag, a mistake that the tablet X or Y is taken every 8 hours or the tablet Z is taken at each meal can occur. This is especially liable to occur when there are various plural drugs different in dose and use. It would be more likely to cause confusion and resultingly cause mistakes in their dose and/or use.
When there are plural medicine bags, or when a patient is under the care of two or more doctors and given medicines through two or more pharmacists, it is likely that the patient carelessly takes out plural drugs from each medicine bag at the same time and may erroneously put a certain drug back into a different medicine bag. In such a case, it is difficult to dose the drugs according to prescription therefor and a dangerous result may occur.